Southern California -- this just in

Pursuit, car-jacking end with shooting in Pomona

February 26, 2012 | 10:03
pm

A man is in critical condition, shot by police, after leading officers on a pursuit in a car with his small son inside.

The incident began at about 3:45 p.m. in West Covina, and the chase may have begun as a stolen vehicle investigation, said Deputy Tony Moore of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The pursuit continued into Pomona, where the suspect allegedly commandeered a second vehicle, Moore said.

A West Covina officer shot the suspect in the torso. He was taken to a local hospital. No officers were hurt.

Moore had no additional details early Sunday night, but witnesses in Pomona sketched a fuller picture in interviews with KTLA Channel 5.

They said a red SUV careened into a residential neighborhood with police in pursuit. The SUV jumped a curb and possibly damaged a house.

The driver then allegedly ran from his car with a shotgun, leaving his son in the vehicle. The driver approached a white Honda Civic and ordered its driver from the car, then climbed in and drove off. He stopped after several blocks and tried to run from the scene, witnesses said.

That was when one witness reported hearing two shots.

One bullet struck the fleeing driver, Moore said.

The SUV was left behind on private property. A woman rushed out of the house and took charge of the boy, who was still in the car.

“I hugged him, and he said, ‘I’m scared because, my dad, I think he died,’” the woman recounted in a broadcast interview. “He wanted to know how his dad was doing.”

She said she reassured the boy. The boy, who appeared to be about 5 years old, was apparently unharmed and walked unassisted to a police cruiser.